Streetcar named Desire

Life is an uphill battle that is full of challenges. It’s full of many uncertainties. Blanche is known as a pathological liar who lives in the past and gives into desire. Based on her inability to control her desires, Blanche is to blame. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams describes Blanche Dubois as a neurotic central character who lives in a fantasy world of old south chivalry but cannot control her desires. Although Blanche is to blame for herown demise, society did play a role in the person she became.

The story is about the fading and desperate Blanche DuBois and how her ensuous and brutal brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski, pushes her over the edge. The story takes place in a working-class neighborhood in New Orleans during the late 1940s. When times get rough, who is to blame for your downfall, yourself or the ones around you? Society can be used to argue Blanche’s demise. Blanche DuBois once referred to herself as a Southern Belle: a woman who has great wealth, behaves like a lady, and is typically beautiful. Blanche’s main problem is overcoming her past.

Blanche’s thoughts about herself prove the fact the she is living in a fantasy world rather than eality. Blanche’s inability to overcome her past truly haunted her. Her husband, Allan Grey, shot himself. He committed suicide after Blanche caught him cheating on her with another man. Blanche’s life continued to go downhill from this point. After the death of her husband, she ran out of money to pay her mortgage. The death of her family members is the reason for the of “lost” Belle Reve (the DuBois family plantation) because “death is expensive” .

Blanche’s inability to pay her mortgage resulted in her moving out of Belle Reve and into Hotel Flamingo. Blanche felt a sense f pleasure at the hotel. Her financial difficulties were improving and her sexual desires were being taken care of as well. She was kicked out of the Hotel Flamingo and had no other choice, but to live with her sister and brother-in-law, Stella and Stanley Kowalski. Stella is Blanche’s down-to-earth sister who seems satisfied with her life as the wife a factory worker, Stanley. Stanley is Stella’s abusive husband and the bane of Blanche’s existence.

Throughout the course of the story, Blanche begins to receive less support from Stella. As Stella learns more and more about Blanche’s ast, it begins to haunt her. Blanche is so used to being used and mistreated by men that she loses her one chance of happiness, with Mitch. Mitch is a momma’s boy who knows how to treat a woman right, if, the woman deserves to be treated right. Mitch fell for Blanche until he, too, learned of her past. Then like all the others, Mitch turned to Blanche for one reason, sexual intercourse. Mitch explains to Blanche, mfou’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother. (150) Society played a huge role in Blanche’s demise. The way people treated her affected the way she reated herself and others. Blanche is unfit to be accepted by anyone in society. As Blanche’s age increases, so do her amount of lies. Blanche’s lies are one of the main reasons for her demise. Blanche lies about her past whenever the conversation is brought about. As Stanley shows his interest in what happened to Belle Reve, it his tent on the door step. This is one of the instances where Blanche continually lies until Stanley reveals the truth. Stanley reveals information about Blanche’s past to everyone.

This becomes a huge turning point in the story because no one has faith in Blanche anymore. Everyone begins to see who the real Blanche is, a crazy unstable women, who lives in the past. Blanche proclaims to Stella, “l wasn’t so good the last two years or so, after Belle Reve had started to slip through my fingers. ” (91). In other words, Blanche is trying to blame her past on the events that occurred with Belle Reve. Instead of being honest with everyone, she looks for the easy way out and refuses to admit the truth. Stella lies on many different circumstances. Stanley asks information about the Flamingo Hotel.

Stanleys testing her honesty. She tells him hat she does not know him and would also never be seen in a hotel like the Flamingo. However, she seems nervous when Stanley asked , which implies that she is lying. Stanley speaks out to Stella, “… She moved to the Flamingo! A second class hotel which has the advantage of not interfering in the private social life of the personalities there. The Flamingo is used to all kinds of goings-on. But even the management of the Flamingo was impressed by Dame Blanche that they requested her to turn in her room-key – for permanently!. ” (120). Stanley is trying to explain to

Stella, the real reason why Blanche showed up in New Orleans. She gives into her desires and had many affairs at the Flamingo. Blanche’s biggest weakness throughout her life was giving into desire. Blanche states, “l don’t want realism, I want magic” (145). Every action and every word out of Blanche’s mouth is based on illusion. Her story of why she’s ended up at Stella’s door is an illusion. The way she covers the harsh light of the bare bulb with a paper shade is an illusion. The lies she tells Mitch are an illusion. The only positive time in her life was when she was ‘happily’ married to her first husband.

Every action and every word out of Blanche’s mouth is determined to recreate this time, this youth. But even that happiness was an illusion, her husband only married her in an attempt to deal with his homosexuality. Blanche’s life was full of desire. The path that Blanche has taken to get to Stella and Stanley’s, represents her demise. It’s the same downfall that led her first husband to suicide. Blanche’s Journey to New Orleans represents many deaths. It’s her cultural demise from refined southern lady to being broke and mentally ill. It’s her demise from a huge plantation to a cot in a one bedroom lower- lass apartment.

Every thing leads to a symbolic death for Blanche. Living the truth (someone who fulfills their desire by entertaining men at a seedy hotel) is death for Blanche. The tragedy of Blanche’s situation is that she’s not dumb. She knows what’s coming no matter how hard she tries to hide from the truth. Despite a flair for the dramatic, she knows what will happen. Her inability to control her desire is the reason Blanche is to blame for her own demise. Life is full of unexpected challenges and difficulties. Blanche DuBois learns in her life, that anything is possible.